I continue driving up north very far. My first plan was to stop in Oregon, but it’s very cloudy there because of the wildfires. It amazes me how many fires there are in America these days. I can’t really remember that from previous trips. Fortunately they’re all far from me, but the smoke is evidently visible.
So I continue driving to Washington state where the sky is more blue again. I thought it would be fun to camp close to the beach, like I’ve done before in New Zealand. Here on the west coast that didn’t turn out to be the best idea. It’s storming the whole night and the tent is making a lot of noise. I’m glad I bought a good tent (I love my Coleman tent) and it stays good through the storm. In the morning I pack my stuff and continue driving all the way North to Olympic National Park where I arrive in the evening. It’s about an hour before sunset which gives me just enough time for a nice short hike to some waterfalls. When I start searching for campsites though, they seem to be all full in this area. Fortunately there is a Walmart Supercenter in the next town and when I drive up there I see already several campers and RV’s in the parking lot. I clear out the back of my minivan and create a nice sleeping place for the night. This is camping how I’m used to do it on previous trips. It saves some time not having to set up a tent and it has the convenience of having groceries right next door. I end the day watching some Netflix in my car, giving me the comfort of home. It’s nice to do it like this once in a while, but of course it doesn’t have the charm of camping in nature, so I plan to do that again in the coming days.
In the morning I go for another hike in Olympic and this trail is called ‘Heart of the forest’ and goes deep into the rain forest. It’s very beautiful and green, just what I hoped Olympic National Park to be. There is almost no one at the trail which makes it a very peaceful experience. It’s a hike of a bit over an hour all the way to a creek in the middle of the forest. I sit down there fore a while and then hike back to my car. I continue driving east until I finally have to say goodbye to my favorite Highway 101. I’ve driven it almost completely from the south of California to the North of Washington, but here I’m gonna take the ferry to Seattle. I’m not sure yet wether I’ll go into the city or drive straight to North Cascades National Park where I hope to do another beautiful hike. For now I use the hour waiting time for the ferry productively by writing this blog post and keeping you up to date about my adventures.
